Don't Do Anything You'll Regret in Ten Years
by muffin Lady 0o
Summary: He had to see it again. Without a glimpse of it, he would surely die, or at least be sent to the Hospital Wing for passing out with lovestruck desire. Any second now, he was going to keel over dead. The Tragic End of James Edward Potter, God rest his soul


**A/N: I haven't written a fic in third PoV for a while now, so this should be fun to attempt to go back to my original style, shan't it? **

**First Harry Potter one too. I'm not quite sure how I am at writing LilyxJames, but I can attempt. I always wanted to do one anyhow, I just never had an idea. **

**If I owned any of this, I wouldn't be posting a fanfic about it. (Well, technically, I would be, because it'd be so much fun that I'd have to make an account just so I could post fics about my own story. But I already have an account, and I did not write Harry Potter, nor did I create any Disney references in here.)**

She was beautiful. Stunning. Marvelous.

And she had to be sitting right behind him. Didn't she?

It was bad enough that James had to sit through a Transfigurations N.E.W.T with McGonagall breathing down his neck, but what made it worse was the fact that Lilly Evans had to be sitting behind him. Now, whenever he wanted to look at her, he had to turn his neck and crane it to the right, (Very uncomfortable) and would end up with a hand whapping him swiftly along the back of his head to return his focus to the test.

Life was very cruel.

Especially when it was McGonagall who was hitting you.

_15) Explain the Shapeshifter's Spell and why it is popular among wizards today. _

_'Used to change the shape of the caster and is popular because we can use it to sneak in on Lily and watch her without her knowing consent.'_ James thought. But no, that wasn't the right answer. It had something to do with the Ministry and Aurors sneaking into places they would be killed for otherwise.

Or something like that.

James could resist no longer. Being careful to make sure that McGonagall was looking the other way, Jams turned his head and craned his neck to the right, and sure enough, he spotted Lily's ear.

Oh, how he loved that ear. How he would worship it and all its glory for one date with Evans. How he longed for that ear to be held in his cupped hand as he gently stroked her face with his thumb, leaning in for a kiss that she would gladly receive...

A sharp pain erupted in the back of his skull and his vision blurred for the moment.

"If your wandering eyes do not contain themselves, your test will be removed, Mr. Potter." McGonagall said in his ear, if not menacingly. James gulped slightly and quickly bent over his paper once more.

Yet, three questions further, and he was back to thinking of Evans' ear. Oh, that glorious ear. Smooth as a peach, (and probably just as tasty.) and just big enough to tease her about without really meaning any of what he said.

Of course, that kind of thing was only for couples. And, of course, a couple they never would be, with her attitude like that.

He had to see it again. Just one more turn of the head. Without a glimpse of it, he would surely die, or at least be sent to the Hospital Wing for passing out with lovestruck desire, unimaginable to the average student. Any second now, he was going to keel over and that would be the tragic end of James Edward Potter...

"Quills down, testing is over." McGonagall said sharply. James exhaled a breath that he did not realize he was holding and smacked the quill onto his desk with a loud SNAP! This, of course, caused a giggle from the girls around him and snickers of other various students (regarding of gender) throughout the room. It was not intended to be funny, and though may were snickering, there was one magical giggle that he was dying to hear, yet it did not come.

But then, Lilly never laughed at his jokes.

"Prongs! My man!" Sirius came and slapped him on the shoulder, waking James out of his stupor. "How'd you think you did?"

"He was too distracted." Remus said matter-of-fact-ly. James would have glared, but he lacked the energy to. He had to find Lily, or he surely would die!... Again...

"Distracted? Was someone else looking off your paper?" Peter asked. Sirius scoffed.

"No, he was distracted by that!" Sirius took Peter's head in his hands and pointed it in the direction of Evans, who was leaving the room with a large crowd.

"Ohhhhh..." Peter breathed. "My bad."

"How about we go outside? The day is nice." Remus said. Sirius grinned. One did not generally want Sirius Back to grin at them. It usually meant he was up to something, and you were the butt-end of it.

"Yeah, outside sounds fun." James answered, disregarding the Sirius Smirk as nothing, because Sirius wouldn't dare pull anything on James, Prank Master Extraordinaire.

Even as the walked out through the hallways, James kept his eyes peeled for Evans. Any glimpse of her. Her shining red hair, her cute little button nose, even her beautiful, peach-looking/tasting ear.

"Do you think Evans would taste like peaches?" James asked on their glorious hike to the beech tree by the lake. Remus gave him a look, suggesting that James spend a few days in solitary confinement, and Peter giggled. Sirius, however, took it seriously.

"Yes, I do, mate." he said. "Fresh ones."

"That's what I thought." James said. Remus shook his head as they sat down and pulled one of five books he must have been carrying around in his bag out and buried his nose in it. James ran a quick hand through his hair before plopping down last, between Sirius and Peter.

"Prongs, why don't you just pull the girl out of the hallway one day, stuff her in a broom closet with you, and snog her senseless? She'll never be able to resist your perfecto kissing technique, and you'll have her right where you want her! You can't tell me you haven't thought about it before." Sirius suggested.

"He has. I talked him out of it." Remus said from behind his book. Sirius rolled his eyes, then prompted James.

"Since when do you go around using words like perfecto?" James asked. Sirius beamed.

"I am expounding my language and searching territories no man nor witch nor muggle hath ever gone before!" he trumpeted triumphantly, putting one fist on his waist and one in the air, like a superhero about to take off. A few girls at the other end of the lake giggled.

"You might want to try perfecting and expounding your own language first." Peter noted. Sirius glared at him before once more returning his attention to James.

"If you can't get Evans, take any of these girls! They're stunning, and not one of them would say no to you!" Sirius made a wide, sweeping gesture of grandeur across the grounds. "In fact, I bet they would all willingly go out with you at the same time, just to tell their friends 'I'm dating James Potter!' You could have fifty girls, and then some!" Sirius grew more passionate with each suggestion, and James was beginning to wonder weather Sirius could come up with an actual, to pardon the pun, serious suggestion for once.

"I only want Lily." James said firmly, gazing across the lake to where Lily sat with her friends, laughing in the sun. Oh, how Lily's hair gleamed in that golden sunlight, casting a sheen that-

"Stop drooling. Any more and we'll have to bathe it all off in the lake before going inside." Sirius said. James shook his head to clear his mind and instead focused on his own reflection in the lake. Again, he swept his fingers through his hair and tossed it around, mussing it up more than usual.

"If she means that much, I'm going to get you two together." Sirius suddenly sat straight up, smacking his fist into his open palm with determination and passion. "And you had better not screw up anything with her between now and tomorrow morning." he said. James scoffed.

"You're going to get us together by tomorrow morning?" James asked. "How? Magic fairy dust?" Sirius winked and smiled that mischievous smile of his.

"I'll whip up a little ol' Sirius magic." he said, then stood and bounded off towards the castle.

For some reason, that smile unnerved James more than anything he had ever seen in his entire life.

Xxxx

"James, have you seen Sirius?" Remus asked him that night at dinner.

"Not since he told me of his evil plot to stick Evans and I together." James informed him. Peter's eyes shifted around uncertainly.

"I hate it when he does this. I just know he's going to pop out at any moment now." he said. James scoffed.

"Probably tied up in a closet somewhere from where Evans stuffed him in when he suggested going out with James." Remus said. James laughed with the rest, but that was probably what had happened, but he was going to keep his sadness to himself.

And, while James was wallowing in his own self-pity, the doors to the Great Hall swung open and in strode Sirius, a gleam in his eye that could mean only one thing:

He had succeeded.

But where was Evans?

"Any luck?" asked Peter. Sirius only grinned.

"Should be, yeah. I'm just going to need a couple helpers for the last part."Sirius said, looking pointedly at Peter ad Remus.

"Oh no. I'm not helping you with another of your insane schemes." Remus said, point blank. "They never work, and we end up in trouble.

"Oh, don't be such a spoilsport." Sirius said. "Besides, it's for the good of a friend! You'll help, won't you Peter?"

"Oh yes! I'd love to!" Peter grinned. Sirius raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at Remus.

"Your loss. Either you witness the Hogwarts event that will go down in history, or you sit in the dorm and read a boring old book." Sirius gave him the choice. "Either become a part of History, or read a book. History… book…" Sirius weighed the options with his hands as if they were the scales. He kept teetering them, slowly inching the one for History closer and closer to Remus's face until Remus smacked the hand away from under his nose.

"Fine, I'll do it." he grumbled. Sirius pumped a fist in the air.

"Yes! Then we're set!" he said.

"Hey, what about me?" James asked. This was his love life, and possibly future of the world as he knew it they were tampering with here. Sirius looked at him.

"Yeah? What about you?" Sirius asked. James gave him a look.

"Well, I would think that would be obvious." he said. "You're kinda tampering with my life here." Sirius waved a hand at him.

"Ah, don't worry about it. We'll call you when we need you." he said. Then, he stood up. "Men, we need to get going." He pulled Remus and Peter up from the table and started to drag them out of the Hall. James caught Peter giving a forlorn glance at his unfinished plate and heard Remus's loud voice of protest and that Sirius should stop manhandling him like that, dangit!

James wondered what they were planning at first, but slowly, his thoughts turned back to Lily. He had to wonder, what was it about Lily that he was drawn to? Did he only want her because he couldn't have her, as she had, so many times before?

_Of course not, _he thought. _There's so much more to her than that!_ While yes, some of it was because he couldn't have her, most of it wasn't. She was beautiful, obviously, but it was much more than that, too. She was smart, no doubt about that. And she had a sharp tongue. She could stand up for herself, and she was clever. Very clever. And, even though she was never that way around him, James knew that she had a sweet side. He just had this intuition about these things.

James Intuition.

Thoughts of Lily consumed him, and soon, dinner was over, and his plate was swept away from him before he had any idea of what was going on. He Didn't feel like going _all the way_ back up to his dormitory, so James just sat there as the enchanted ceiling overhead grew darker and darker, eventually sprinkling itself with stars. James looked up at it only briefly before returning his thoughts to his daydream.

"Oi! James!" The voice startled him out of his daydream stupor and made him jump. Turning his head, he saw Sirius and Peter poking their heads into the Hall, where James was the only resident.

"Get over here! We're ready!" Peter called. James shook his head to clear his thoughts and head over to them. The instant he was within arms' reach, Sirius reached out, grabbed his arm, and began to drag him out of the building, to the grounds.

"Sirius! What are you doing?" James asked. Sirius just pulled harder and began to run.

"Lily will be out here soon with Remus! We need to get you in position!" Sirius said while Peter huffed to keep up.

They eventually reached the beech tree by the lake, and James wondered what the large coil of rope was for.

"Oh, this?" Sirius said. James nodded, and Sirius sighed.

"I'm sorry, James. But this is for your own good." Sirius said.

"What are you at-" James started, but in a swift movement, was swung around and wrapped to the beech tree by the rope.

"Make sure it's tight!" Peter said, holding James down. Sirius put one foot up on the tree to push with and pulled with all his might on the knot to tighten it.

"Hey! What are you doing? Why are you tying me up?!" James yelled. Sirius quick ran around and put a finger to James's lips, silencing him.

"The truth is, James, we're going to have our way with you." Sirius said. James's eyes went absolutely round as dinner plates, perfectly matching Peter's.

"W-we are?" he asked. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"No! That was sarcasm!" he told Peter. James went limp with relief. "Now James, we're going to draw Lily here, and you two are going to talk." Sirius said. "And she is trapped in, because she can't get out until we lift this spell that's around here. Remus is leading her down here and taking her wand, so she can't lift the spell, and we've already lifted your wand." Sirius held up James's wand and twirled it between his fingers in front of his face.

"Hey! Give that back!" James said. He struggled against the rope, but it was in vain.

"Here they come here they come!" Peter jumped up and down with excitement. Sirius froze, and then both of them ran and hid under the invisibility cloak, and James was left on his own in the night, apparently trapped in a giant spell box.

"James? What are you doing here?" Remus asked in mock surprise. For a prefect, he was very good at lying. Lily, however, narrowed her eyes.

"Remus, you didn't really want to just go for a walk, did you? What are you guys planning?" Remus looked at her, then at James, and then, quite suddenly, whipped out his want and shouted "NOW!"

Out from under the cloak came Sirius and Peter, and the three boys split off in different directions, and James distinctly heard Remus shout a spell that would surround Lily and James and enclose them in a boxed-in space. Lily looked scandalized.

"Remus Lupin! I can't believe you would sink this low!" she shouted. "Sirius, yes. Remus, no." Lily walked over to where Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all gathered. Sirius had his arms folded in smugness, the Smirk of Success on his face, Remus with his fists at his waist, looking like one of the superheroes in a movie or comic book, and Peter had his thumbs in his ears and was making a grotesque face at Lily.

"Wasn't his plot Lily, 'twas mine." Sirius grinned. "And you aren't getting out of here until you learn to get along with Jamsie there. We're going to leave you two alone for a few minutes while we go make some snacks. Don't do anything you'll regret in ten years!" he trilled, then bounded off with Remus and Peter laughing along with him. James narrowed his eyes at the retreating party and Lily looked as if she might have thrown up a little in her mouth.

"So Lily-"

"Don't even start, James." Lily snapped, turning to face him. "You knew about this all along, didn't you?"

"Well-"

"Don't give me that!" Lily interrupted. James looked lost for words.

"I didn't even say anything! How can I not 'give you that' if I didn't get it out in the first place?" James asked. Lily snorted.

"I don't have to hear it! They set this whole thing up! They even tied you to this tree to make it look like they kidnapped the both of us, so it would seem more believable, didn't they?" She folded her arms and stuck out her hip and gave him the 'I'm-Waiting-for-an-Answer-and-I-Know-it-Won't-be-Very-Believable' look.

"No! They really did kidnap me and tie me to this tree against my will! I swear it!" James cried.

"Yeah, sure." Lily scoffed. "I'll bet that you knew nothing about me being kidnapped either."

"Not until the very end, no." James informed her. "They kidnapped me and informed me of their master plan as I was tied up here."

"Sure. You had no knowledge that they would try to get us together where you have failed all these years." Lily rolled her eyes, while James narrowed his.

"Oh, sure, hit me where it hurts. I see how it is." James turned his head. "And yes, I did know that they were going to try something, but I was not enlightened with the plans until I was tied to this tree. Blame yourself for falling for it."

"I did not fall for anything!" Lily defended herself, pink around the cheeks.

"Then you knew I was going to be here and came anyways? How does that fit in with your logic of hating my very existence?" James asked. Lily turned pinker.

"This I did not know about!"

"Then how could you know what you were getting yourself into?"

"I never said I did!"

"Ah, but you _implied_ it! Good as saying." James said smugly. Lily clenched her fists, then threw her hands in the air and stomped off to a far corner of the invisible box. James sighed.

"Come on, Lily. If I knew they were going to do this I would have stopped them." James said. "Even I wouldn't have done this. You of all people should know that." he told her.

"Duh you wouldn't." Lily said softly. "You prefer to torture some innocent student and then bribe me to go out with you to get you to stop."

"Oh, come on! I haven't done that all year!" James cried. "What will it take to get you to see that I changed?"

"It doesn't matter! That's what you did, James Potter! You can't take it back!" Lily turned to face him.

"And I wish I could take it all back." James said. "All of it." Lily looked at him, and if he wasn't mistaken, he saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes. His heart went out to her, and he felt the strong urge to make her laugh, if not smile, despite the fact that she never laughed at anything he said.

"But you have to admit, Snape's underpants flying through the air that one time was pretty funny." He raised his eyebrows and grinned a little.

And, for some reason, The Space-Time Continuum decided to rip apart the Fabric of Reality at that moment, and Lily, of all people, paused for a second, and then,

Then…

Lily Evans laughed.

Not that she didn't ever laugh. Of course not. But it was that the fact that Lily Evans was laughing with him. Not at him, _with _him.

"Okay, that really was funny." she agreed. James's smile got bigger.

"And remember how he was chasing then around in circles as they flew above his head?" James continued. Lily defied all laws of nature again and giggled.

"Yes, I do."

"And remember-"

"Don't push your luck." she warned. James shut his mouth pretty quick after that.

"Hey, Lily?" James asked after a second. Lily turned her head.

"Yeah?"

"You feel like untying me?" he asked. Lily looked him up and down.

"Well, I rather like the idea of you tied up and away from me, but I suppose I'll be the kinder person." she said, and walked over to the knot on the side of the tree.

"Ow! Don't pull it tighter!" James protested after a second. Lily laughed again.

"I was kidding. Shut up you big baby, you'll be out in just a second." Lily said. James pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes in the direction Lily disappeared to. Her sense of humor was just a bit twisted, that one.

"There. You're free." Lily said as the ropes around James's waist loosened and fell to the ground. James, however, was so completely excited, that he started to dance around the little cube-like enclosure like a drunken idiot. Lily pinched the bridge of her nose, and tried to avert her eyes. Though, when one such as James Potter is dancing around like a drunken idiot, one does not really want to miss this moment of the Century.

Of course, Lily chose the wrong moment to look. James had just switched from the Sprinkler to Churning the Butter, complete with large pelvic thrusts and the immense bobbing of the head.

"James, stop that! You look insane!" Lily said, averting her eyes once again. James just grinned wilder.

"Dance with me Lily!" James cried, and grabbed hold of her hands. Lily shrieked in terror at first, but slowly started smiling as James began to spin her around and around in a circle.

"James! The tree!" Lily shouted, just in time. She broke away, but James was spinning with too much force.

A loud SMACK! Resounded across the grounds.

"James! Are you okay?" Lily ran towards the figure of James Potter, laying on his back, spread-eagle, his face a blank stare at the leaves overhead, and a large, red scrape on his forehead where he collided with the tree.

"Whoa…" James blinked his eyes a few times, though he still saw most things cross-eyed. Lily shook her head and sighed.

"James, sit up." she commanded. James did as she said, and immediately winced when Lily put her hand up to his scrape.

"Quit being such a baby, James. You've had worse, I'm assuming."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Then stop whining." Lily told him. James folded his arms.

"I am not whining!"

"What was that?"

"Well, it wasn't whining!"

"What would make you stop complaining then?" Lily sighed. James thought for a second.

"To make my head feel better." he answered.

"And just how do you propose I do that?" Lily asked. James smiled a grin so cunning that Lily paled.

"Kiss it better." James said. Lily froze for a second.

"No! I am not kissing your forehead better!" she shrieked. James shrugged.

"Ow! My head! The agony! I am in pain! I feel myself blacking out! There goes the world! Save my poor tortured soul! Woe is me! My world! My world…" James peeked out of the arm flung dramatically over his face at Lily, who had one eyebrow raised and her arms crossed.

She was unimpressed.

"Come on, you can't say that wasn't some good acting on my part." James said. Lily rolled her eyes skywards.

"Believe me, I can. And I'm still not going to kiss your forehead."

"My feet then? And then call me 'Your Highness' and bring me cookies? That could be fun." James suggested. Lily shook her head and sighed.

"Guess again." she smirked. James tilted his head to the side.

"Uhm… I'm all out of plausible ideas…" he said. How he could think that Lily kissing his feet would be a plausible idea, he didn't know. All the same, Lily heaved another large sigh.

"You boys are so stupid sometimes." Lily said, then grabbed James's collar and pulled him in for a kiss.

James's eyes went wide. They were probably twice the size they had been when Sirius said that he was 'going to have his way with him.' There was an explosion of fireworks in his eyes. James had never been happier in his entire life.

And he was right. She _did_ taste like peaches.

Fresh ones.

Except, it was about to come to a crashing halt around his ears.

"CAAAAAAANNN YOOOUUUUU FEEEEEEEEL THE LOOOOOOOVEEEEEE TOOONIIIIIIIIIGGHHTTT!" Came the annoying, off-key, very loud voice that could belong to none other than Sirius Black. James and Lily stopped, mid-kiss, and both turned to look at Remus, Sirius, and Peter, two of which were rolling on the ground, trying to hold their laughter in with a simple hand over the mouth.

"SIRIUS!" James roared, standing up and getting a slight bit dizzy at the motion. Sirius backed away from the spell's walls, but James looked angry enough to bust right through with his bare hands.

"Hey, hey, I was only adding a bit of theme music to lighten the mood!" Sirius held his hands open, palms up in a form of submisson. "But hey, it worked, didn't it? You two are together now!"

"Tell you what," James said, stroking his chin in mock thought. "If you remove this barrier, give up back our wands, and go back up to the castle, I might let you get away with it."

"Done!" Sirius said hastily, throwing the wands from his pocket at Remus, who caught them awkwardly.

"See you tomorrow!" he called, heading back towards the castle. Remus rolled his eyes as Peter followed close behind.

"You know, for once, Sirius did a good thing in his life." he said before lifting the spell and tossing the wands back at James and Lily. "Have a nice night! And, in the words of one Sirius Black, don't do anything you'll regret in ten years!" he ran hastily back to the castle, but James had no inclination to chase after him.

"So," he said, turning back to Lily. "Where were we?"

"I was just telling you that no, I was not going to kiss your forehead better." she grinned.

"Works for me." James replied, taking his seat next to her again.

**A/N: Sorry the ending was so sloppy. I was rushing a little. So this was rather fun. Although, the idea is copyright us. (You know who you are) And I'm not proud to say that yes, this very torture was threatened upon me. Though, I was being duct taped to a pole, not tied to a tree. Though the song I conclude is also part of the torture. **

**I have 18 reviews on my Cherry Blow-Pop story. I want 20, at least. Pretty please? I promise it isn't what you think it will be! **

**Reviews make me smile. And I sure do love to smile, folks. **

**EDIT: Sorry for all the typos in previous. I fixed the ones I caught, I think. **


End file.
